JP2005170184A - Light emitting diode lamp device with radar function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an LED lamp device with a radar function capable of measuring a vehicle following distance at low cost by compatibly using one light source as a head lamp and as a distance measuring function. <P>SOLUTION: The LED lamp device with a radar function is provided with LED lamps 10H and 10L having a plurality of LEDs to radiate light forward, a light on/off-signal for giving an indication of turning on or off the LED lamps 10H and 10L, a distance measurement indicating unit 22 for giving an indication to measure a distance to an article, LED drive control units 11, 12H and 12L for making the LED lamps 10H and 10L emit light when the light on-signal is outputted and for making the LED lamps 10H and 10L emit pulse light when the distance measurement indicating unit 22 indicates measurement, a signal receiver unit 4 for receiving the reflected light of the pulse light emitted from the LED lamps 10H and 10L, and a signal processing unit 5 for detecting a distance to the article on the basis of a time difference from the emission of the pulse light to the emission of the reflected light thereof. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an LED lamp device with a radar function, which allows a headlamp itself to have a radar function, and enables accurate measurement of the distance between vehicles at a low cost.

  As a configuration in which a vehicle headlight has two functions of a headlamp and a distance measurement, for example, an “inter-vehicle distance measurement radar” disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 05-27037 (hereinafter referred to as a conventional example) is disclosed. is there.

In this conventional example, a laser light emitting unit and a laser light receiving unit for measuring an inter-vehicle distance are incorporated in a vehicle headlamp case, and the optical axis of the headlamp body and the laser are adjusted by adjusting the optical axis by an optical axis adjusting mechanism. The adjustment with the optical axis of the radar apparatus is performed at the same time, and the labor saving of the optical axis adjustment work and the simplification of the optical axis adjustment mechanism are achieved at the same time.
JP-A-5-27037

  However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, a headlight lamp and a distance measurement radar are arranged in parallel in the headlight, and laser light emission is performed in the headlamp case. Since the unit and the laser light receiving unit are built in, the shape of the headlight becomes unique, which may restrict the vehicle design.

  Further, since the headlamp and the light source of the radar are separated and the components of the laser radar device are added to the headlamp, there is a problem that the cost is increased.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve such a conventional problem, and an object of the present invention is to perform a pulse operation of an LED lamp for illumination and observe the reflected light, thereby the headlamp itself. It is an object of the present invention to provide an LED lamp device with a radar function that has a radar function and makes it possible to measure a head-to-head distance and a distance measuring function with a single light source, and to measure the distance between vehicles at a low cost.

  In order to solve the above object, the present invention has a plurality of light emitting diodes (hereinafter referred to as LEDs), an LED lamp that irradiates light in front of the vehicle, and a light ON that gives an instruction to turn on or off the LED lamp. / OFF signal and distance measurement instruction means for giving an instruction to measure the distance to the object existing in front of the host vehicle, and when the light ON / OFF signal is ON, the LED lamp is caused to emit light, and the distance measurement instruction means When there is a measurement instruction, LED drive control means for causing the LED lamp to emit light, light receiving means for receiving reflected light of the pulsed light transmitted from the LED lamp, and reflection of the pulsed light after causing the pulsed light emission Signal processing means for detecting a distance to an object based on a time difference until light is received.

  In the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present invention, by using the LED as the light source of the headlamp, the two functions of the headlamp and the distance measurement can be achieved with a single light source, so the number of parts and the cost can be reduced. In addition, when the present invention is applied to a driving support system, it is not necessary to separately install a radar, so there is no design limitation, and as a result, an LED with a radar function that can measure the distance between vehicles at a low cost. A lamp device can be realized.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Examples of radar devices include laser radar using infrared light and radio wave radar using electromagnetic waves. The radar system also includes a pulse system that transmits a short-time pulse signal, calculates the distance by measuring the time it takes to receive the pulse signal reflected back to the target, and frequency modulation with a triangular wave. There is a CW system that transmits a continuous wave that is amplitude-modulated and calculates a distance by frequency displacement or phase displacement of a reflected signal. The following description will be made assuming a method using an optical scanner in an infrared laser radar apparatus and employing a pulse method.

〔Example〕
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an LED lamp device with a radar function according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present embodiment includes a signal transmission unit 1 that also serves as an automobile lamp (LED lamp), a vehicle behavior detection unit 3, a signal reception unit 4, and a signal processing unit 5. It is configured with.

  The signal transmission unit 1 includes a high beam LED group 10H and a low beam LED group 10L, a high beam LED drive unit 12H that controls light emission of the high beam LED group 10H, and a low beam LED drive unit that controls light emission of the low beam LED group 10L. 12L, and an LED drive control unit 11 that gives a light emission control instruction of the LED groups 10H and 10L to the high beam LED drive unit 12H and the low beam LED drive unit 12L based on the light ON / OFF signal and the pulse emission command. .

  The LED group is composed of six LEDs, each divided into three high beam LED groups 10H and low beam LED groups 10L. The number of LEDs in the LED group is six, and the LED group is divided into three LED groups. However, the configuration is merely an example, and the number of LEDs is not particularly limited.

  Further, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 2, the LED group is installed in a headlight at the front of the vehicle, and the high beam LED group 10H irradiates up to 100 [m] in front of the optical axis L1, and the low beam LED. The group 10L irradiates up to 40 [m] forward with the optical axis L2.

  Further, FIG. 3 illustrates the arrangement of the LED groups. However, as shown in FIG. 3A, the blinker 15a, the high beam LED group 10Ha, and the low beam LED group 10La may be arranged in the vertical direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 3B, the winker 15b, the high beam LED group 10Hb, and the low beam LED group 10Lb may be arranged in the horizontal direction, or may be any other arrangement.

  In addition, the LED drive control unit 11 uses the high beam LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L for a high beam in the case of an instruction to function as illumination based on a light ON / OFF signal that instructs whether to function as illumination. An instruction is given to the high beam LED driving unit 12H and the low beam LED driving unit 12L so that the LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L is irradiated with light. Further, based on a pulse emission command from the signal processing unit 5, an instruction is given to intermittently transmit pulsed light from the high beam LED group 10Ha or the low beam LED group 10La.

  Further, the high beam LED driving unit 12H and the low beam LED driving unit 12L perform light irradiation and intermittent transmission of pulsed light from the high beam LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L, respectively, based on an instruction from the LED drive control unit 11. To control. That is, in the high beam LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON, the light emission of each LED group is continued in the time zone excluding the extremely short distance measurement time, and the headlamp Realize functionality.

  Next, the vehicle behavior detector 3 detects the behavior of the host vehicle during traveling. The vehicle behavior detection unit 3 includes a shift position sensor that detects the shift position of the vehicle, a wheel speed sensor that detects the wheel speeds of the left and right rear wheels, and a steering angle sensor that detects the steering angle of the vehicle. . In addition, an arithmetic device is also provided that calculates the vehicle position, the vehicle traveling direction, the vehicle direction, the vehicle acceleration, and the movement distance using sensor signals from the shift position sensor, the wheel speed sensor, and the steering angle sensor. That is, the vehicle behavior detection unit 2 calculates the vehicle position, traveling direction, vehicle direction, vehicle acceleration, and travel distance from each sensor signal, and outputs these to the signal processing unit 5 as vehicle travel information.

  The signal receiving unit 4 corresponds to the light receiving means described in the claims, and has a configuration including an optical lens 7, a photodiode 8, and a signal amplifier 9 including an STC (Sensitivity Time Control) amplifier and the like. is there.

  Further, the signal processing unit 5 corresponds to the signal processing means referred to in the claims, and includes a transmission trigger generation unit 21 and a distance measurement instruction unit 22. Specifically, the signal processing unit 5 is realized by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), an input / output I / F, and the like. It is embodied by a program executed on the CPU and a circuit around the CPU.

  First, the distance measurement instruction unit 22 gives an instruction to the transmission trigger generation unit 21 to measure the distance to an object existing ahead of the host vehicle based on the light ON / OFF signal and the vehicle travel information from the vehicle behavior detection unit 3.

  Next, the transmission trigger generator 21 outputs a pulse emission command to the LED drive controller 11. Further, the signal processing unit 5 detects the distance to an object existing in front of the host vehicle, and this distance is detected by transmitting a light emission command for sending pulsed light to the LED drive control unit 11 of the signal sending unit 1. The time difference from when the trigger generator 21 sends the laser beam reflected back to the target at the photodiode 8 of the signal receiver 4 until the received signal is sent to the signal processor 5. Calculate based on At this time, correction is performed in consideration of the delay time of signal transmission / reception in the circuit.

  Further, the signal processing unit 5 identifies the preceding vehicle using vehicle recognition logic or the like based on the distance information detected for the distance. The obtained preceding vehicle information, obstacle information, and the like are also transmitted to an ACC controller (Adaptive Cruise Control) that performs preceding vehicle tracking control so that the distance to the preceding vehicle becomes the set inter-vehicle distance.

  FIG. 4 shows the functions performed in accordance with the light ON / OFF signal and the traveling speed in the high beam LED driving unit 12H and the low beam LED driving unit 12L. That is, the distance measurement instruction unit 22 issues a distance measurement instruction based on the light ON / OFF signal and the vehicle travel information from the vehicle behavior detection unit 3 by classifying the cases shown in FIG.

  That is, when the light ON / OFF signal is OFF, the high-beam LED group 10H is caused to emit light at a predetermined cycle so that distance measurement is always performed, and distance measurement by pulse emission of the high-beam LED group 10H cannot be performed. For this purpose, the low-beam LED group 10L is made to emit light in a complementary manner.

  On the other hand, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the low beam LED group 10L, the high beam LED group 10H is caused to emit light in a predetermined cycle so as to always measure the distance. Further, when distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, the distance measurement is performed by complementarily emitting the low beam LED group 10L. At this time, the low-beam LED group 10L is once extinguished, and then the low-beam LED group 10L is pulse-emitted, and after a predetermined time, the low-beam LED group 10L is emitted again to illuminate the front.

  In addition, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H, the high beam LED group 10H is caused to emit light at a predetermined cycle so as to always measure the distance. At this time, after the high beam LED group 10H is once turned off, the high beam LED group 10H is pulsed, and after a predetermined time, the high beam LED group 10H is emitted again to illuminate the front. Further, when distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, the distance measurement is performed by complementarily emitting the low beam LED group 10L. Further, based on the vehicle travel information from the vehicle behavior detector 3, when the travel speed is low, the distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L is not performed, and the high beam LED group 10H Just illuminate the front.

  Next, a specific operation of the LED lamp device with a radar function according to this embodiment, that is, a distance measuring method using the LED lamp device will be described with reference to time charts shown in FIGS. 5 to 8 and a flowchart shown in FIG.

  First, when the light ON / OFF signal is OFF, as shown in FIG. 5A, the high-beam LED group 10H is caused to emit light at a predetermined cycle so as to always measure the distance. Here, the pulse emission time width is set to about 100 [nsec], and the pulse emission cycle is set to about 1 [μsec], and distance measurement by this pulse emission enables highly accurate distance measurement even for a long distance object. It is. In addition, by extending the period during which no light is emitted, the pulse light emission operation is prevented from being felt around.

  Further, when distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, the low beam LED group 10L is complementarily pulsed as shown in FIG. 5B. The pulse light emission of the low-beam LED group 10L may be periodically performed with a period sufficiently longer than the pulse light emission of the high-beam LED group 10H.

  Further, the vehicle pitch angle is calculated from the vehicle travel information (acceleration) from the vehicle behavior detection unit 3, and when the optical axis of the high beam LED group 10H faces upward, the distance measurement with the high beam LED group 10H is performed. By stopping and causing the low-beam LED group 10L to emit light in a predetermined cycle, stable distance measurement is performed.

  Next, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the low beam LED group 10L, as shown in FIG. 6A, the high beam LED group 10H is pulsed at a predetermined cycle so as to always measure the distance. Make it emit light. Similar to FIG. 5, the time width of pulsed light emission is about 100 [nsec], and the period of pulsed light emission is about 1 [μsec]. Thereby, it is possible to measure the distance with high accuracy even with a long distance object.

  Further, when distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, the low beam LED group 10L is complementarily pulsed as shown in FIG. 6B. When the pulsed light is emitted, the low beam LED group 10L is temporarily turned off, the low beam LED group 10L is pulsed after a predetermined time, and the low beam LED group 10L is emitted again after the predetermined time to illuminate the front. Yes. The pulse light emission of the low-beam LED group 10L may be periodically performed with a period sufficiently longer than the pulse light emission of the high-beam LED group 10H.

  Furthermore, even in this case, when the vehicle pitch angle is calculated from the vehicle travel information (acceleration) from the vehicle behavior detector 3 and the optical axis of the high beam LED group 10H is directed upward, the high beam LED group 10H The distance measurement is stopped, and the low-beam LED group 10L is pulsed to emit light at a predetermined cycle, thereby performing stable distance measurement. However, in this case, the period of the pulsed light is longer than that in the case of FIG.

  Next, when the traveling speed is high and the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H, as shown in FIG. The LED group 10H is pulsed with a predetermined cycle. At this time, the high beam LED group 10H is temporarily turned off, the high beam LED group 10H is pulsed after a predetermined time, and the high beam LED group 10H is again emitted after the predetermined time to illuminate the front. Here, for example, the time width of pulse emission is about 100 [nsec], the irradiation period as illumination is about 10 [msec], and the time width for measuring distance (time of extinction and pulse emission) is about 1 [μsec]. As described above, by making the illumination period sufficiently longer than the distance measurement period, both the illumination and the distance measuring operation are achieved.

  Further, when distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, the low beam LED group 10L is complementarily pulsed as shown in FIG. 7B. The pulse emission of the low beam LED group 10L may be periodically performed at a longer cycle than the pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H.

  Further, when the traveling speed is low and the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H, distance measurement is performed by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L. First, as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B, only the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H.

  Next, a processing procedure when distance measurement is performed by the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG. 9 is a processing procedure performed by the distance measurement instruction unit 22 of the signal processing unit 5. When the host vehicle is traveling, the processing after step S1 is started.

  First, in step S1, the headlamp function is determined based on the light ON / OFF signal. That is, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H, the process proceeds to step S2 and the processes of steps S2 to S7 are performed. Further, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front side is illuminated by the low beam LED group 10L, the process proceeds to step S11 and the processes of steps S11 to S16 are performed. Further, when the light ON / OFF signal is OFF, the process proceeds to step S12, and the processes of step S12, step S13, and step S17 are performed.

  Next, processing when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H will be described. First, in step S2, the light emission of the high beam LED group 10H is turned on. Next, in step S3, the vehicle speed is determined based on the vehicle travel information from the vehicle behavior detection unit 3. If the vehicle speed is lower than the predetermined speed, the distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H is not performed, and the process ends. .

  If the vehicle speed is higher than the predetermined speed in step S3, the process proceeds to step S4 to determine whether or not to perform distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H. That is, if a predetermined time (about 10 [msec] in the present embodiment) has passed since the distance measurement by the pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H last time, it is determined that the distance measurement is necessary and the process proceeds to step S5. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process ends.

  Next, in step S5, the high-beam LED group 10H is temporarily turned off in order to perform distance measurement by pulse emission. In step S6, the high-beam LED group 10H emits pulses after a predetermined time, and the distance is measured. Further, in step S7, after a predetermined time has elapsed since the pulse emission, the emission of the high beam LED group 10H is resumed and terminated.

  Next, processing when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the low beam LED group 10L will be described. First, in step S11, the light emission of the low beam LED group 10L is turned on. Next, in step S12, the high beam LED group 10H is caused to emit pulses to measure the distance.

  Next, in step S13, it is determined whether or not to perform distance measurement by pulse emission of the low beam LED group 10L. That is, when the distance measurement by the pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, or a predetermined time (about 10 [msec] in the present embodiment) elapses from the distance measurement by the pulse emission of the previous low beam LED group 10L. If it is determined that the distance measurement is necessary (in this case, the light emission of the low-beam LED group 10L is ON), the process proceeds to step S14. If not, the process ends.

  Next, in step S14, the low-beam LED group 10L is temporarily turned off in order to perform distance measurement by pulse emission. In step S15, the low-beam LED group 10L emits pulses after a predetermined time has elapsed, and the distance is measured. Further, in step S16, the light emission of the low beam LED group 10L is resumed and finished after a predetermined time has elapsed since the pulse light emission.

  Further, processing when the light ON / OFF signal is OFF will be described. First, in step S12, the high beam LED group 10H is caused to emit light in a pulsed manner, and the distance is measured.

  Next, in step S13, it is determined whether or not to perform distance measurement by pulse emission of the low beam LED group 10L. That is, when the distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, or when a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous distance measurement by pulse emission of the low beam LED group 10L, it is determined that the distance measurement is necessary. (In this case, since the light emission of the low beam LED group 10L is OFF), the process proceeds to step S17. Otherwise, the process ends.

  In step S17, the low-beam LED group 10L is caused to emit light in a pulsed manner, and the distance measurement is completed.

  Note that the processing described above is repeatedly performed every period of distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H, that is, every period of pulse emission (about 1 [μsec] in this embodiment).

  As described above, in the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present embodiment, the LED lamps 10H and 10L that have a plurality of LEDs and irradiate light in front of the host vehicle, and the LED lamps 10H and 10L are turned on or off. A light ON / OFF signal that gives an instruction of the vehicle, a distance measurement instruction unit 22 that gives an instruction to measure the distance to an object in front of the host vehicle, and LED lamps 10H and 10L when the light ON / OFF signal is ON. When there is a measurement instruction from the distance measurement instructing unit 22, the LED drive control units 11, 12H, 12L for causing the LED lamps 10H, 10L to emit pulses, and the reflected light of the pulse light transmitted from the LED lamps 10H, 10L The signal receiving unit 4 that receives light and the time difference from when the pulsed light is emitted until the reflected light of the pulsed light is received. A signal processing unit 5 for detecting separation, and by using an LED as the light source of the headlamp, the two functions of the headlamp and the distance measurement can be achieved with a single light source. Cost can be reduced. In addition, when the present invention is applied to a driving support system, there is no need to separately install a radar, so there is no design limitation, and as a result, an LED lamp device with a radar function that enables inter-vehicle distance measurement at low cost. (Effect of claim 1).

  In the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present embodiment, the LED lamp includes the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L, and each can emit pulses. Further, the number of times of pulse emission of the low beam LED group 10L is set to be smaller than the number of times of pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H. Thus, by performing distance measurement by the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L so as to complement each other, the distance to the object ahead of the host vehicle can be measured more reliably. For example, the optical axis of the high beam LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L may deviate from the object due to the influence of the driving environment, such as a change in the vehicle posture on a slope or a bumpy road, and distance measurement may not be possible. In such a case, switching to the other LED to perform distance measurement enables stable distance measurement (effects of claims 2 and 3).

  In addition, the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present embodiment includes a vehicle behavior detection unit 3 that detects the behavior of the host vehicle (vehicle position, vehicle traveling direction, vehicle orientation, vehicle acceleration, travel distance, and the like). The distance measurement instruction unit 22 causes the high beam LED group 10H (or the low beam LED group 10L) to emit pulses in accordance with the vehicle speed detected by the vehicle behavior detection unit 3 (when the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed). ing. Thereby, the surrounding environment can be estimated according to the vehicle speed, and the distance can be measured so as not to affect the driving. In addition, since distance measurement is not performed during low-speed traveling where the necessity for distance measurement is not so high, it is possible to save power consumption of the battery by omitting useless processing (effects of claims 4 and 6).

  In particular, in the LED lamp device with a radar function of this embodiment, when the light ON / OFF signal is OFF, the high beam LED group 10H is always pulsed at a predetermined cycle, and the light ON / OFF signal is ON. , The high-beam LED group 10H emits pulses according to the vehicle speed (when the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed). Further, when distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED group 10H cannot be performed, the distance measurement is performed by complementarily emitting the low beam LED group 10L.

  The optical axis of the high-beam LED group 10H is set so as to illuminate, for example, up to 100 [m] ahead, can measure the distance to a distant object, and the light emission time required for the distance measurement is also extremely short. Therefore, the distance can be measured stably without adversely affecting the surroundings. Further, the optical axis of the low beam LED group 10L is set to illuminate up to 40 [m] ahead, for example, when the pitch angle of the vehicle faces upward or when the front is a downhill. Even in a situation where distance measurement cannot be performed with the pulsed light of the high-beam LED group 10H, the distance to the object ahead can be reliably measured (effects of claims 5 and 7).

  In the LED lamp device with a radar function according to the present embodiment, when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the low beam LED group 10L is caused to emit light, the low beam LED group 10L is temporarily turned off and then the low beam LED group is turned off. 10L is pulse-emitted, and after a predetermined time, the low-beam LED group 10L is emitted again. When the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the high-beam LED group 10H is emitting light, the high-beam LED group 10H is activated. After the light is turned off, the high beam LED group 10H emits pulses, and after a predetermined time, the high beam LED group 10H emits light again. Thereby, even when the high beam LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L is used as illumination, the distance measurement by the pulsed light using the high beam LED group 10H or the low beam LED group 10L is possible (claim). Effects of items 8 and 9).

It is a block diagram of the LED lamp apparatus with a radar function which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram of the vehicle to which the LED lamp device with a radar function of an Example is applied. It is explanatory drawing which illustrates arrangement | positioning of LED group. It is explanatory drawing explaining the function performed according to a light ON / OFF signal and traveling speed in the high beam LED drive part 12H and the low beam LED drive part 12L. It is a time chart explaining the state of the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L when the light ON / OFF signal is OFF. It is a time chart explaining the state of the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L when the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the low beam LED group 10L. It is a time chart explaining the state of the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L when the traveling speed is high and the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H. It is a time chart explaining the state of the high beam LED group 10H and the low beam LED group 10L when the traveling speed is low and the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the front is illuminated by the high beam LED group 10H. It is a flowchart explaining the process sequence at the time of measuring distance with the LED lamp apparatus with a radar function of an Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Signal transmission part 3 Vehicle behavior detection part 4 Signal receiving part (light-receiving means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 Signal processing part 7 Optical lens 8 Photodiode 9 Signal amplifier 10H, 10Ha, 10Hb LED group for high beams 10L, 10La, 10Lb LED group for low beams 11 LED drive control part 12H High beam LED drive part 12L Low beam LED drive part 15a, 15b Turn signal 21 Transmission Trigger Generation Unit 22 Distance Measurement Instruction Unit L1 Optical Axis of High Beam LED Group 10H L2 Optical Axis of Low Beam LED Group 10L

Claims (9)

An LED lamp having a plurality of light emitting diodes (hereinafter referred to as LEDs) and irradiating light in front of the vehicle;
A light ON / OFF signal for giving an instruction to turn on or off the LED lamp;
Distance measurement instruction means for giving an instruction to measure the distance to an object existing in front of the host vehicle;
LED drive control means for causing the LED lamp to emit light when the light ON / OFF signal is ON, and for causing the LED lamp to emit pulse light when there is a measurement instruction by the distance measurement instruction means;
A light receiving means for receiving reflected light of the pulsed light transmitted from the LED lamp;
A signal processing means for detecting a distance to an object based on a time difference from when the pulsed light is emitted until the reflected light of the pulsed light is received;
An LED lamp device with a radar function, comprising:   2. The LED lamp device with a radar function according to claim 1, wherein the LED lamp includes a high beam LED and a low beam LED, each capable of emitting pulses.   3. The LED lamp device with a radar function according to claim 2, wherein the number of pulse emission of the low beam LED is smaller than the number of pulse emission of the high beam LED. Vehicle behavior detection means for detecting the behavior of the host vehicle,
4. The radar function according to claim 2, wherein the distance measurement instructing unit causes the high beam LED or the low beam LED to emit pulses in accordance with a vehicle speed detected by the vehicle behavior detecting unit. 5. LED lamp device. When the light ON / OFF signal is OFF, the distance measurement instruction means always causes the high beam LED to emit light at a predetermined cycle, and
The distance measuring instruction unit causes the high beam LED to emit light in a pulsed manner according to a vehicle speed when the light ON / OFF signal is ON. LED lamp device with radar function.   6. The LED lamp device with a radar function according to claim 4, wherein the distance measurement instructing unit causes the high beam LED or the low beam LED to emit pulses when the vehicle speed is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed.   7. The distance measuring instruction means complementarily causes the low beam LED to emit a pulse when the distance measurement by pulse emission of the high beam LED cannot be performed. The LED lamp device with a radar function as described.   When the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the low beam LED is caused to emit light, the distance measurement instructing means causes the low beam LED to be pulsed after the low beam LED is once extinguished, and again after a predetermined time. The LED lamp device with a radar function according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the low beam LED emits light.   When the light ON / OFF signal is ON and the high beam LED is caused to emit light, the distance measurement instructing means turns off the high beam LED and then causes the high beam LED to emit light, and again after a predetermined time. The LED lamp device with a radar function according to any one of claims 2 to 7, wherein the LED for high beam emits light.

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